Sunday, August 19, 2007

There's nothing worse than diarrhea. Uuuugggghhhh!!! And it's even worse when a case of liquid stools hits you up when you're a patient in the hospital. I mean you're already feeling like ass and then along comes nature's version of a California mudslide. But I'm here to give you hope my friend. Dr. Aas has a cure!

Allow me to elaborate some on what I actually see at work as a hospital pharmacist. About 10% of hospitalized patients who are being treated with those big, powerful antibiotics for an infection develop a condition called Pseudomembranous Colitis caused by the bacteria Clostridium Difficile. C. Diff is a "bad" bacteria that is in your gut normally but in very small amounts. Your gut is actually made of trillions and trillions of bacteria but most are good. Sometimes when you get treated for an infection by those big, powerful antibiotics they will kill off the "good" bacteria which unfortunately let's the "bad" bacteria take over and the results are you guessed it - The Screamin' Shits!

If you get C. Diff then don't worry because there's two common antibiotics (Flagyl and Vancomycin) used to treat it. But about 20-30% of people will have relapses. What then? Well if you're lucky enough to have 5 relapsing episodes with no help from flagyl or vancomycin then there's always the stool transplant.

Stool Transplant!? You heard right. A poop transplant. You're last thread of hope for returning to normal lies in the hands of a Minnesotan physician name Dr. Aas. Dr. Aas actually takes human feces from a volunteer donor, blends it up until it's nice and creamy, and administers it through a tube that goes from your nose to your gut. Mmmmmm.... Yummy!! It actually works too. In fact I heard about it from The Sanford Guide, which for us medical geeks is our version of the bible in treating infectious disease.

The donor is usually a loved one. Oh Thank GOD! Can you imagine taking shit from a stranger and never being able to look into their eyes to say thank you. Love is a beautiful thing. So what flavor shake would you like the next time you end up in the hospital?

For an inside interview from Dr. Aas himself feel free to read on about this medical miracle:

1 comments:

Cinbad
said...

I worked with Dr.Aas patient's in the past at a local Clinic, and had the witness a few near death miracles- I think he is brilliant! Who would have ever thought to give patient a stool transplant? I would really have to love someone to eat their poo.